Top 10 annoying comments by non-F1 fans

If you are reading this there is a pretty high chance you follow F1 (if your not you might be reading this because an F1 fan has told you too because your comments will be in this list). Being an F1 fan is not the easiest sport to follow. When someone asks you why you even like it, you find yourself explaining why it is a good sport. It’s not easy when the sport is beset by gates,bad tracks and poor leadership (which we hope was fixed in October but still.) However, you try, try, try and try your hardest to explain why you love the sport but why do you bother? It’s very rare, in my experience, that anyone actually listens to what you say and more a case of they want to show you up. So here are the top 10 annoying comments I have found people saying. See how many you have heard before.

10. “But its just cars going round in circles”

Now if this was IRL or Nascar then yes they do, but to say “they’re just going around in circles” is missing the point. You can easily argue that football (all types, all countries) is just a bunch of blokes (and women) running round kicking a bag of air at a net. Please do not just downgrade my sport to that notion. For one they call them laps not circles and two it’s about the team and driver that can tackle the track and deliver the best result pushing the limits of machinery, bravery, tactics and skill to beat the rest. So even if it was just going round in circles, I would still enjoy it more than listening to your life which is just a series of sad events in order to make your snivelling existence worthwhile.

9. “What’s the point of going to a race you don’t see anything”

This is the comment that can sum up why it’s a waste of time to explain your sport. Do people that go the Le Mans 24 hours watch every bit of the race? No. It’s about the buzz of being there, the feeling as the cars rip past. The atmosphere is something else. One of the best races I attended was the BTCC final at Donington in 2004. The final race of the season was for the title between Vauxhall teammates Yvan Muller and James Thompson with Jason Plato in the mix and even though his title chances were over he was still in for the win. It was one of the most tense and great times ever as they chopped and charged for the win and effectively the title. The best part was I didn’t even support any one of those three yet it was great as each time they came past the trackside commentator talking you through every moment as the title was taken by Thompson by 1 point after. But no one knew where it was going. The electricity through the crowd as Plato tapped the back of Muller, who could have spun but held it, was incredible. Did I know every bit of every lap? No, but here is the other great bit. In motorsport I have found we have the best fans of any sport and you can mix Mclaren fans with Ferrari and Red Bull fans yet they won’t try to kill each other. In the UK you try mixing football fans up like that you would be in a scrap before you can say goal. You can openly talk to each other at the event with rival fans, inform each other of bits you may have missed. The only riots in motor sport events are those of the pit crews bashing each other. It’s also good to point out that we’re in the 21st century now and a lot of big circuit events have large TV screens to follow the action or a radio station on site where you can tune into the action…

8. “Michael Schumacher wins all the time.”

Now this was true at one stage and it may happen this year. But really the amount of people that said that to me the past three years is large and I had to point out that he is retired. Don’t criticise my sport if you have no idea who is in it.

7. “Why don’t you support *Insert nationality here* instead of that team.”

Now this may be a Brit based question only. Being a Ferrari fan I get told “duhhhh why don’t you support Mclaren they are British, Ferrari are Italian, you should have some home pride.” Excuse me? What? This one gets on my nerves. Yes Manchester United may be a British based team but the players in it are from all around the world which makes your team about as British as a Wok. I used to just say that and the fact that there have been many British minds behind Ferrari’s success. I would mention people like Ross Brawn but these days it is Massa’s engineer Rob Smedley just to prove the point there is British in the team (Yes I know there’s more but this is just an example). Yes I hope England win during the world cup time but if I stuck to this statement I would never have experienced success and instead mention 1966 over and over again because we won nothing since and it was years before I ever existed so shut up.

6. “I only watch it for the crashes.”

Great thanks for sharing that. If I said I only watched your sport to see them fall over and break their legs you would think I was twisted wouldn’t you? Though I am tempted see you fall down the stairs so that make us equal?

5. “Its all about the car.”

Well yes and no. You are never going to win a championship in a poor car. You can luck into a good result (Brazil 2003 Fisichellas wins in a Jordan that was usually near the back of the grid) but it is essentially the same in all sports. If you have a good team together, you produce the goods. If you put together a baseball team and you have people in there who can’t catch a few, that can’t bat and one or two that can’t run, they are not going to win. It’s the same in F1. If you have people that are not as good as the next team then they wont win. Yes budgets come into it obviously but once again look at all sports. The top 5 in any league table have a lot more money than those fighting relegation. Such is the fact of life.

4. “I could go as fast in my car.”

No. No you could not. Your 8 year old Vauxhall (Opel to those outside the UK I believe) is not going to beat even the slowest F1 car just because you put a stupid spoiler on it, lowered it, put a tin can over the exhaust and spent a ton to get an extra 20 BHP out of the engine. You clearly have no idea what you’re talking about and all you have done is made your car more attractive to thieves and pushed your insurance up. Well done. No go drink a bottle of bleach.

3. “Why don’t they just ram the other guy off?”

Because this isn’t Nascar or Touring cars. Those guys can do a bit of “Rubbin” racing or “Wheel banging” but even they have driving standards. (Make your own NASCAR jokes up) If you want that kind of driving go watch banger racing. I do not want a sport that is top flight due to a driver taking a guy off the track (make your own Schumacher jokes up as well) I want to see some skill and a fair fight thank you.

2. “Every race is just a precession you know who is going to win Saturday.”

Now this one is a subject that is a prickly one. It does not help that the FIA Overtaking Working Group failed (And in simple terms undid all the regulation work by allowing Double diffusers), it does not help that for some reason commercial rights boss Bernie Ecclestone insists on letting Herman Tilke design circuits. Is F1 throwing up dud races? Yes it is but how many 0-0 draws in soccer are there? All sports have dull moments and F1 has is no different. But look at Brazil last year for instance. How much did we enjoy Button passing and fighting? And that was for a few points not the win (which Webber took from Barrichello). Those who have followed F1 can remember great races, epic ones that stand out. But whilst we get duds we get ones that are interesting if not mega. So whilst a win maybe sorted on Saturday there is still plenty of action through out the field.

1. “How hard is it to drive a car?”

This one really annoys me. People who think that when a driver is racing they are going about it in the same way as the idiot asking the question drives to the supermarket. Trying to explain to them the effect of G forces on the body around a track or the heat and humidity at tracks like Malaysia and what effects it has on the body. Trying to explain to them that a driver needs to be inch perfect and get his lap times fast and consistent lap after lap for the whole race. Not back off and have another try but be at 100% for the whole race. The best example of that was last year. A bunch of us at a stag went to do a bit of Karting and after 80 laps of a 30 second circuit later, they were all aching and moaning. The lap times? Well not Alonso-Esq” in consistency put it that way….